IRS bill drives man to attempt suicide on street near ‘Today’ show

A man who tried to commit suicide outside the NBC “Today” studios at Rockefeller Center during the show’s Thursday broadcast was distraught over a $1.3 million bill from the Internal Revenue Service, authorities said.

Pak Chong Mar, 72, sliced his wrists with a boxcutter as the cameras rolled inside, about 7:50 a.m., The New York Post reported. He screamed in the process, The Post said, “The IRS is trying to take my money. I’m not a freeloader.”

A security guard tackled the man, who nonetheless was able to cut himself deep enough to spill blood on the streets.

“I saw him take slice after slice. I saw the blood gushing,” said one witness in The Post. “The first thing I thought about was that soldier in London, and I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is happening.’ “

Mr. Mar had been trying to distribute a notice about his IRS issue, but nobody would take it, The Post said.

The note stated that the federal government was about to seize almost $1 million from his bank account — and that was on top of the $300,000 it already grabbed, The Post reported.

The note read — with grammatical and spelling errors included — that “IRS ruin our lifes … I can’t fight the IRS buracracy without the public put pressure on them. Thank you,” The Post reported.

Mr. Mar is reportedly in the hospital, but his condition is not known.

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About the Author

Cheryl Chumley is a continuous news writer for The Washington Times. Previously, she was part of the start-up team for The Washington Times’ digital aggregation product, Times247. She’s also a 2008-2009 Robert Novak journalism fellow with The Phillips Foundation. She can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.